


The Wanted Betrayal

by hybridempress



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Angst, Gen, Suicide Attempt, Suicide Notes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-13
Updated: 2015-07-13
Packaged: 2018-04-09 04:39:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4334222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hybridempress/pseuds/hybridempress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the wake of the most recent trial, discovering that Yao was the murderer of Antonio and Ludwig, some of the other countries just can't take living in this hellhole anymore. When Gilbert finds that Francis had become the latest victim, the remaining Personifications set out to investigate his murder, but the trial ends in a way that no one would have ever expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Wanted Betrayal

    A bone chilling shriek was heard by the nation Personifications who had been sat down at the dining table in the cafeteria, still waiting on two people to arrive. All of them recognized instantly the voice of Gilbert in the scream. It was a sound of absolute despair. No one in the room had ever heard Gilbert scream like that before.  
  
    Aside from Gilbert, the only other person missing from the table at the time was Francis. Silence followed Gilbert's scream as each of the other nations exchanged horrified glances with each other. All of them were thinking the exact same thing, yet all of them were praying to various gods that their fears would not be realized when they found where Gilbert was.  
  
    "Come on," Elizabeta hissed as she stood up from the table and began to run out of the cafeteria.   
  
    One by one, each of the other Personifications followed her. Each of them called Gilbert's name as they searched through each room, trying desperately to find him. A few minutes after the search began, another blood curdling scream was heard. This time, the voice belonged to Alfred. Arthur's face went pale when he heard it.  
  
    "I think Alfred's in the food storage room! Come on, hurry!" Arthur shouted before running into the food storage room. The others followed him quickly.   
  
    When Arthur entered the room, his eyes first fell on Gilbert and Alfred, who were on their knees beside each other. "Oh, thank God, you two are alri-" Arthur began, but stopped once his eyes wandered to what Alfred and Gilbert were staring at.   
  
    Francis was hanging by his neck with a rope that was tied to a rafter on the ceiling. His eyes were closed and his skin had become pale and purple. He was just... Dangling there. Francis was dead.  
  
    "O-oh my God..." Arthur couldn't even scream. His throat had closed up on him as he imagined what it must have felt like for Francis, slowly suffocating with a noose around his neck. The other countries poured into the room and stared at the horrendous discovery that had been made by Gilbert. No one could say anything. For a while, the only sound came from the crying of Gilbert, Alfred and Arthur.  
  
    Eventually, the sickeningly familiar chime of an announcement from the Mastermind was heard. "Welp, looks like you bastards found another body. You'll have a short time to collect some evidence before we hold a trial. Good luck!" There was silence once again.  
  
    Kiku was the first person to break the silence. "C-come on, everyone... We have to get him down from there..." he muttered softly.   
  
    He stepped away from the other Personifications and walked towards Francis' dangling body. When he noticed the box that had clearly been kicked away from Francis, he pulled it closer to him and stood up on it. He reached up to the rafter and untied the rope. He lowered Francis' body to the ground gently and let the rope fall onto the Frenchman's chest.  
  
    Kiku stepped down from the box and looked at the rest of the Personifications. "Prussia-kun, England-san, America-san, I realize that the three of you will need time to grieve over this loss. Please leave the investigation to me and the others," he said quietly, nodding towards the three Personifications who were still crying.  _Though there might not be much to investigate at all..._  he added silently.  
  
    "I... C-come on, you two. L-let's listen to Japan. L-let's get out of here..." Arthur urged, offering one of his hands to Alfred, and the other to Gilbert.  
  
    Alfred nodded subtly, sniffling for a moment before wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket. He took Arthur's hand, and Arthur pulled him up. Gilbert gave no indication of acknowledgment to Arthur, but took his hand and stood up anyways. Arthur squeezed both of their hands tightly before leading them out of the room.   
  
    After Arthur, Alfred and Gilbert had left the room, the other Personifications recovered from their shock as quickly as possible. They gathered around Francis' body to pay their respects to him before beginning their investigation. Unfortunately, just as Kiku had thought, the investigation didn't take very long at all.  
  
    From the immediate looks of things, Francis' death didn't appear to be a murder at all. It had looked like a suicide. The box that had appeared to be kicked out from under Francis' feet, the way the rope was tied, even just the method of killing someone by hanging them seemed like something that was only plausible if Francis had committed suicide.   
  
    After all, Francis should have been able to fight back and get away from someone who was trying to hang him, unless they had killed him beforehand and hung the body afterwards. There weren't any external wounds on the body, aside from the bruises on his neck, and there was no sign of him having been poisoned or drowned before being hung.   
  
    The murder had to have happened within a pretty wide time span. Everyone's alibis before ten o'clock PM the night before seemed solid, and after that time, everyone was supposed to have been asleep. There's no way that it could have happened in the morning after everyone had woken up because the body was already cold and pale when they had found it. The muscles seemed to be stiff, as well.   
  
    Everyone aside from Gilbert and Francis had been sitting at the cafeteria table by eight o'clock that morning. The death was estimated to have occurred between ten o'clock PM and five o'clock AM. Unfortunately, with no way to tell who was awake and out of their rooms between those hours, and because there was little to no evidence at the scene of the crime, so far, there were no suspects other than Francis himself.  
  
    The only bit of evidence that could have possibly pointed to a murder was the fact that there were two distinct bruises on Francis' neck. They had both come from the same rope, but one of them was placed higher than the other. Ivan hypothesized that someone could have used the rope to suffocate Francis, removed it briefly once he was dead, and tightened it on a different part of Francis' neck when trying to hang his body from the rafters. Most of the other Personifications agreed with Ivan's theory, but they still had no suspects.   
  
    Just over an hour had passed for the Personifications to conduct their investigation before the announcement chime was heard again. By this time, all of the Personifications, including the three who had been mostly excluded from the investigation, had gathered together once again in the cafeteria. Silence fell upon them when they knew that the Mastermind was about to speak again.   
  
    "Alright, ya bastards! Time's up! So get yer asses to the Trial Room immediately, and we'll send your friend's murderer straight to Hell!"   
  
    Still, there was silence. The first person to stand up from the table was Kiku. Gilbert followed, then Arthur, Alfred, Feliciano, Elizabeta, and Ivan. The seven of them walked slowly but brusquely towards the trial room's entrance. When they reached it, Kiku pushed the doors open and walked inside. Once again, the others followed. They seated themselves at the table and prepared to debate the case.  
  
    "Let's have a quick recap of the evidence that we found at the scene of the crime," Kiku said. The others nodded.  
  
    "The rope looked like it had been tied around the rafter by Francis himself. Also, there was a tall box that was knocked over beneath him, as if he had been standing on it and someone had kicked it over," Elizabeta reminded.   
  
    "There were two bruises on Francis' neck, but both of them came from the same rope," Ivan said.  
  
    "A-also, I noticed that there was some kind of ink on his right hand, on some of his fingers. I-I don't know what that could mean, though..." Feliciano piped up.   
  
    "I-it sounds like it was a suicide..." Arthur whispered. His eyes widened as he said the words. He couldn't believe that Francis would have done something like that, especially when he had wanted everyone to get out of this together so badly.  
  
    Kiku nodded solemnly. "That's what the rest of us think happened... There isn't any other explanation. We have no suspects and there is no other evidence that we could find," he explained.  
  
    "P-plus, the ink on his hands could have been from a letter that he wrote...! Like a suicide note...! Even though we didn't find one..." Feliciano suggested.   
  
    "I-is that what we're deciding, then? Are we accusing Francis himself?" Arthur asked. His voice had become hoarse. He, as well as Alfred and Gilbert, looked as if they were on the verge of tears once again.  
  
    Kiku nodded again. "Yes, I think that's the conclusion that we have-"  
  
    " _Nein!_ "  
  
    Everyone turned their heads to look at Gilbert, who had just shouted his disagreement with the conclusion that everyone was about to vote on. They were shocked, of course, as well as confused. What did Gilbert seemingly know that they didn't? What would make him shout like that?  
  
    Elizabeta furrowed her brows and stared Gilbert straight in the eye. "What do you mean ' _nein',_  Gil? What else could have happened to him?" she asked.  
  
    "I did it! I killed him!" Gilbert choked out before bursting into another flood of tears.  
  
    Everyone else gasped. Had they heard Gilbert right? Gilbert had said that  _he killed Francis?_  There was no way that could be true. Gilbert would never have done that. Not to Francis.  
  
    "P-Prussia-kun, what are you talking about? You didn't kill France-san. You couldn't have. All of us know that you two were as close as brothers," Kiku protested.  
  
    "I know we were as close as brothers! But I still killed him, I did it!" Gilbert shouted, more desperately this time.   
  
    Elizabeta started crying softly. "I-I don't understand, G-Gil, why would you...?" she whispered before covering her mouth with her hand to try and suppress a soft sob that threatened to escape from her throat.  
  
    "S-stop, I'm sorry!! I didn't want to, okay!? But I-  _we_  had to!" Gilbert yelled.  
  
    "What do you mean you  _had to_ , you bastard!? You better have an explanation for this before I go over there and kill you before the Mastermind can, you fucking traitor!" Arthur roared, beginning to stand up from his seat. His crying had started again, too.   
  
    "I-I'm not a traitor!" Gilbert shouted back, also standing up, and slamming his fists down on the table. "He  _wanted_  me to do it!"   
  
    "Why the hell would Francis have wanted  _you_  to kill him, or for anyone to kill him!?" Arthur demanded.  
  
    "Because you don't know what it's like for either one of us, bastard! You don't know what happened!" Gilbert shouted.  
  
    "Then fucking tell us what happened before I strangle you with my bare hands!" Arthur threatened.   
  
    "I-I'm trying to, I'm trying to...!"  
  
\---  
    

 _The sound of the ticking clock within the darkness of the unlit living quarters was enough to drive anyone mad, but especially Gilbert. In light of the last trial, he couldn't sleep. Ludwig had died. He was murdered, by Yao, for reasons that the Chinese man had refused to disclose. Ludwig was gone, and Gilbert didn't know what to do._  
  
    Antonio was also gone, and so was Roderich. Only two of his close friends were still alive; Francis and Elizabeta. But who knew how long it would be before one of them was murdered, too? Gilbert wasn't sure he could handle that, but he knew that it was inevitable. Either he would die before either of them were killed, or he'd have to witness yet another murder. Quite frankly, the former option seemed favorable.  
  
    Eventually, Gilbert couldn't take the loneliness anymore. He sat up in his bed and quickly swung his legs over the edge so that he could stand up. He ran to the door of his room and opened it. The lights in the hallway were turned out, so Gilbert felt along the wall next to his door until he could find his light switch and turn on the lights in his room. Once he had done so, he stepped out of the room and walked into the hallway.   
  
    Thankfully, the light from his own room was enough to guide him down the hall to Francis' room. He felt that if he could talk to Francis for just a little while, and maybe get some feelings off of his chest, he might be able to get some sleep tonight. Both of them would probably benefit from having a talk about all that had happened. Gilbert was sure that Francis was harboring unheard feelings as well.  
  
    However, when Gilbert made it to Francis' room, he noticed that the door was open slightly, and light was streaming into the hallway from behind it. Gilbert raised an eyebrow, wondering why on Earth Francis' door was open even slightly at this time of night. What time was it now? Like one in the morning?   
  
    Gilbert quickly ran to the door and pushed it open further, stepping into the room. "Francis? Are you here?" he called out. There was no answer.   
  
    Gilbert scanned the room quickly, looking for anything out of place. On the desk near the back of the room, there was a small slip of paper with some writing on it. Gilbert, thinking that it might have been a letter given to Francis to convince him to meet someone somewhere, ran to the desk and picked the paper up to read it.  
  
     **To whoever finds this letter,  
  
    I expect that you've found my body by now. If it wasn't already clear enough from the environment in which my death occurred, no investigation must be held for me. I've committed suicide. I'm the culprit, and that's all there is to it. I know that this must come as a shock to most of you, but I just cannot keep living in this place anymore. So many of my friends have already died and I can't bear to see any more of them go. I'd rather at least one of you survive, rather than me. So I have to go. I hope that you understand my sacrifice for you. I love you all very dearly, but my time has come.  
  
    Best wishes,  
    Francis**  
  
    Gilbert's hands had started shaking by the time he had finished reading the letter. This was even worse than finding a letter that had been sent to Francis by someone else. Francis was going to kill himself?? Gilbert had to stop this, now!  
  
    He dropped the note hurriedly and ran out of the room and down the hall. He didn't know where to look for Francis, but he started with the room that was closest to him and would go from there. The closest room to the dorm hallway was the food storage room. Gilbert thought that it would have been a little far fetched for Francis to be attempting to kill himself in the food storage room, but unfortunately, he was wrong.  
  
    The first thing that Gilbert saw when he entered the room was Francis kicking a box out from underneath his feet. The crash that the box made when it hit the ground covered up the gasp that had been pushed out of Francis' mouth as he began to suffocate. Gilbert's eyes widened in terror.   
  
    "Francis, what the fuck!?" he shouted, rushing forward and jumping onto the box that Francis had kicked down. He was just barely tall enough to reach the noose that was around Francis' neck and loosen it. After it was loose enough to pull Francis free from, Gilbert did just that. Francis started coughing violently, terrified of Gilbert's sudden appearance and shocked that he could breathe again. Gilbert sat on the floor and laid Francis down in his lap.   
  
    "F-Francis, what are you doing, man!? Wh-what was that- You were going to leave me??" Gilbert asked frantically. Before he even realized it, he had started crying. His tears were pouring down his face and ended up falling onto Francis'.   
  
    "G-Gilbert, what are you doing here...? Why did you-"  
  
    "What the fuck were you thinking, Francis!?" Gilbert demanded.   
  
    Francis managed to glare at the Prussian. "Don't talk to me like that, Gilbert," he said hoarsely.   
  
    "I'll talk to you however the fuck I want to, Francis! You just tried to kill yourself, for God's sake!" Gilbert shouted.  
  
    Francis sat up and backed away from him. "And I'm going to do it again! You can't stop me next time!" he shouted back.  
  
    "What the hell is that supposed to mean!? Of course I'm going to stop you! I can't lose you, Francis! I can't lose another person, Goddammit!" Gilbert yelled.   
  
    "I can't either, Gilbert! I can't lose anyone else! Matthew died within the first twenty-four hours that we were here! Now Roderich and Antonio are gone, too! Who knows how long it's going to be before I have to lose Arthur, or Alfred, or you!? I don't want to be here when that happens!" Francis cried.  
  
    "Well I've lost people too, Francis! Did you ever think about that!? I lost my brother, and I lost Roderich and Antonio, too! They weren't just your friends, you know! And I don't want to have to watch you or Liz die! You can't just leave me, Francis! It's not fair!" Gilbert shouted.  
  
    "I'm not staying here any longer, Gilbert, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it!" Francis hissed.  
  
    "Then maybe I should just fucking kill you myself! I'll give myself up and I'll be executed and then we'll both be gone! How does that sound!?" Gilbert spat.  
  
    Francis' face fell instantly. "N-no, Gilbert, you can't do that," he said softly.  
  
    "Why the fuck not!? If you're going, then I'm going too! We'll just kill two birds with one stone this way! It'll save everyone else the trouble of having to hold a stupid fucking investigation for me! I'd rather die a villain than die alone!" Gilbert shouted, starting to cry even harder.  
  
    Francis paused for a minute before standing up and staring down at Gilbert. "Fine," he whispered. "If you want to kill me, then do it. I'm going to die with or without your help, so just make it quick."  
  
    Gilbert took a moment to calm his crying down, wiping his eyes with his sleeve and taking deep, shaky breaths, before standing up and facing Francis. "Fine. I'm going to do it. So help me get that box back up," he muttered.  
  
    Francis and Gilbert started at each other somberly for a moment before Francis nodded and did as he was hold. The two men worked together to lift the box up and push it underneath the noose again. Francis began to climb up, but Gilbert pulled him back. Francis glared at him again.  
  
    "Don't tell me you're chickening out," he hissed.  
  
    "I-I'm not, I-I just want to say a proper goodbye," Gilbert whispered.  
  
    Francis' face softened slightly. "Gil... I'm so sorry I was so harsh to you... But I really can't do this anymore. You understand that, don't you?" he asked.   
  
    Gilbert nodded. "I do. That's why we're doing this," he said.  
  
    "Gilbert... When you tell the others what happened, you have to make Arthur and Alfred promise they'll take care of each other. They're all they'll have left. They have to protect each other. Please, that's all I ask of you," Francis pleaded.  
  
    "Don't worry, Francis. I'll make them promise," Gilbert swore.   
  
    He kissed Francis' forehead tenderly, and Francis hugged him tightly before beginning to climb on top of the box again. Gilbert followed him, and tightened the noose around his neck once he was standing under it. After that, Gilbert jumped down from the box and stared up at Francis.   
  
    "Are you sure this is what you want...?" he whispered softly.  
  
    Francis nodded subtly. " **Oui,**  this is what I want," he answered.  
  
    "Are you ready?" Gilbert asked.   
  
    "I'm ready," Francis replied.   
  
    Taking a deep breath, Gilbert closed his eyes and pushed the box out from underneath Francis' feet. It fell over again, making yet another crash, and Gilbert stared up at his friend who was now dangling by a rope tied to the ceiling rafter. He stayed there until Francis had stopped breathing. His entire body was shaking and he had started to sob again. He couldn't believe what he had just done.   
  
    It took him what seemed like forever to calm down. He waited until he had stopped crying to attempt to leave the room. It was a slow walk back to the dorm hall, for he could barely walk. He had almost forgotten about Francis' bedroom door still being open, and would have forgotten to close it if it hadn't been for the light that was streaming into the hallway from it. He quickly ran to Francis' room, shut the door, and ran back to his own room. It was now just a little after two in the morning, and Gilbert knew that he would still be getting no sleep that night.  
  
\---  
  
    "So that's... That's how it happened... Th-that's why I killed him... A-and when I screamed today, and when I was crying when the rest of you found me, it was because I had hoped that everything that happened last night had just been a bad dream! I hate myself for what I've done! Th-that's why I have to be executed, too!" Gilbert shouted, having finally finished telling his story to the other's.  
  
    A stunned silence filled the room. Of course they all believed everything Gilbert had said. Who could have made up a story like that? Gilbert wouldn't have blamed himself for Francis' death if it wasn't truly his fault.   
  
    At the same time, none of them could believe a word of it. The story had to be true, they knew that, but it still felt so surreal... How could any of them have let it come to this? To the point where two best friends had turned on each other because they couldn't deal with being in this hellhole anymore? A new terror had settled upon the group that would not be leaving them for the duration of their time in this horrible place.  
  
    "So go ahead. Convict me. Vote on me. Let's just get this over with," Gilbert growled softly, glaring at the others to try to knock them out of their stupor. He couldn't deal with this much longer.  
  
    Kiku cleared his throat, still looking extremely pale, but he nodded anyways. "R-right... Then, everyone must put in their votes now... For who they think the culprit is..." he said quietly.  
  
    It was a unanimous vote for Gilbert. Every single person in the room had cast their vote for him. Soon, another announcement came from the Mastermind to tell them that they were right.  
  
    "Y'know, for a minute there, I was sure that Prussia was actually going to get away with his crime! It's too bad yer such a softy, man. Y'could'a gotten out of here if you had just kept quiet! But oh well, looks like we've got another execution on our hands..." he said, then laughed.   
  
    Gilbert stepped away from his chair and stood away from the table. He glanced back at it momentarily to look at Arthur and Alfred. "You two have to promise that you're going to take care of each other, got it? It was Francis' dying wish and I told him I'd make you do it! Don't make me a liar!" he pleaded.  
  
    "I-I... O-of course we will, Prussia... W-we'll protect each other..." Arthur said softly, and Alfred nodded.  
  
    Gilbert then looked at Elizabeta. "L-Liz... I know that you won't have anyone around now that Roddy and I are gone... B-but you never needed us anyways...!" He gave a soft, shaky laugh, and smiled at her. "You're stronger than any man, y-you can take care of yourself..." he whispered.  
  
    "Gilbert, wait, please!" Liz shouted, standing up from the table and running to him.  
  
    "I'm sorry, Liz. I have to go," Gilbert told her. He brushed his hand against her face before pecking her lips gently and pushing her away from him. He ran towards the execution room before anyone else could do anything about it.   
  
    Quickly, the other Personifications stood up and rushed to the execution room to watch the punishment that Gilbert would be given. It was perhaps the most gruesome that they had seen yet. He had been thrown into the middle of a dark room. For a while, nothing happened. Gilbert started to panic, wondering why he hadn't been killed yet, and why everything was so goddamn dark.  
  
    "What the hell is happening here!? What kind of game is this!? Hurry and kill me already, bastard!" he shouted.  
  
    Finally, he saw a group of figures approaching them. Figuring that they were here to kill him, Gilbert stood still, ready to accept his fate. However, his face paled when he saw who was approaching him. To the others who were watching him, they just looked like faceless figures, but to Gilbert, the people who were approaching him were his friends. All of them, both the ones that he knew were alive and the ones that were already dead.   
  
    "I-I... Wh-what are you guys doing here, I-I'm supposed to be dead, I-I'm supposed to be-"  
  
    The figures brandished weapons and continued to move closer to Gilbert. Gilbert started to back away from them. His heart was racing. He felt terrified.   
  
    "Wh-what are you guys doing...? Wh-what are you...-"  
  
    The figures closed in on him. They said nothing to him. They just kept on getting closer and closer to him, raising their weapons in position to attack him. Gilbert shrunk under their cold gaze and sunk to his knees. Their eyes were so full of hatred, and Gilbert knew that it was directed at him.  
  
    "You betrayed us, Gilbert. You're dead to us," the figure of Francis hissed.   
  
    Gilbert let out a scream that sounded exactly like the one he had let out earlier as the figures attacked him, ripping him to absolute shreds. He didn't even fight them back. He knew that he deserved this. In the end, he still had to live through his worst fear. He had died thinking that he was alone, and worse, unloved.

**Author's Note:**

> I can't title for shit apparently. 
> 
> Anyways, contribution number 2 to APH France Week on Tumblr! 
> 
> I've been itching to write a Dangantalia fic based off of the game by rustic-hawk on deviantART ever since finishing the chapters that are out at the moment. I wanted to write a continuation, of how I thought the next trial could possibly go down. Of course, it had to involve my son and it had to be terribly tragic and disturbing. That shouldn't be surprising considering it's me. 
> 
> I've found that I have a fondness for writing Danganronpa-style fanfics, so who knows, I may write more in the future. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this. Sorry for all the angst, but it had to be this way.


End file.
